Books by James Anderson
Learnership
How to raise the status of learning from an act to an art in your school
We don't have a teaching problem in our schools, we have a learning problem.
Today, we understand quality teaching better than ever. We have skilful teachers doing a great job in our classrooms. But when we have quality teaching and are still not achieving the results we're looking for, it's a sign that we don't have a teaching problem. What we have is a learning problem.
Ultimately, learning is not the product of teaching, it's the product of the activity of learners. Too many of our students are passive learners who avoid challenges, fail to act on feedback, or who waste effort instead of investing in it. To prepare students to not only succeed in school but also to have the agency they need to succeed in life, we must lead them to become skilful learners.
In his fifth book, James Anderson unveils the concept of 'Learnership', which transforms learning from an act to an art. Within these pages you will learn how to:
- evaluate the current level of Learnership in your school using the Learnership Diagnostic tool
- foster a culture of growth that sets students up for success in both school and life
- apply the Mindset Continuum to nurture a growth mindset in your students
- harness deep insights into the pivotal role of challenges, Habits of Mind, mistakes, feedback and effort in cultivating Learnership
- develop more skilful learners in your classroom
- get your teachers on board and skilled in developing Learnership
- drive a Learnership program in your school.
If you are ready to show your learners how to get more out of every learning situation and get better at getting better, it's time to embrace Learnership.
The Learning Landscape
How to increase Learner Agency and become a lifelong learner
In The Learning Landscape, James Anderson outlines a powerful metaphor for visualising learning. Mapping the abstract concept of learning onto a physical journey in the real world, the learning process is made tangible and accessible to learners.
Students will be guided across the plains of the Learning Landscape, passing over the foundational knowledge that has come before them, while overcoming pits of challenging learning in an effort to climb to the peaks of expertise.
In the Learning Landscape, challenges are represented by four different types of Challenge Pits™:
- The Learning Challenge
- The Performance Challenge
- The Downhill Challenge
- The Aspirational Challenge
Only by equipping students with powerful learning tools, such as the Habits of Mind, will they be prepared for the climb out of these Challenge Pits™, as their mindsets determine how far they can travel and how high they can climb.
Drawing on the work of Nicholas Nassim Taleb, Art Costa and Bena Kallick, Anders Ericsson, and Carol Dweck, The Learning Landscape provides teachers with a tool to develop learner agency, creating more effective learners, improving engagement and, ultimately, learning outcomes.
The Mindset Continuum
How to implement Growth Mindsets and increase Learner Agency
In The Mindset Continuum, James Anderson gives deep insights into the practical application of Carol S. Dweck's work. He explains why most current Growth Mindset interventions are failing and provides clear and compelling direction for schools wanting to implement Growth Mindset strategies that work!
The Mindset Continuum resets our expectations for our work with Mindsets. By building a Growth Mindset Style Guide, teachers create positive mindset movers that nurture an increasingly growth-oriented mindset in their students. In short, we stop teaching about a Growth Mindset and start teaching for a Growth Mindset.
Developing a more growth-oriented mindset is just one factor in helping students become better learners. In this book, you'll discover the role mindset plays in helping students increase Learner Agency and become better learners!
The Agile Learner
Where Growth Mindset, Habits of Mind and Practice Unite
The Agile Learner combines three powerful ideas: Growth Mindset, Habits of Mind and Virtuous Practice. It shows teachers not only how to create the Growth Mindset, but also how to translate that Mindset into actual growth in their student’s abilities.
In The Agile Learner you will:
- Go beyond social media hype to a deep understanding of Mindsets
- Stop treating the symptoms of a Fixed Mindset, and learn how to address the underlying causes
- Explore the Mindset Continuum, and it’s importance to making practical changes to students mindset
- Create powerful Mindset Movers that will shift students mindsets
- Examine the subtle but powerful influence a teacher’s Mindset has on students
- Learn how to translate a Growth Mindset in to actual growth
- Discover the Four Rules about Talent and learn how to apply them in your classroom
- Develop Learning Power in students with Habits of Mind
- Learn why not all sorts of practice work, and how to encourage Virtuous Practice
- Help student grow by showing them how to engage in Effective Effort.
- Much more…
